Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare
Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released on March 28, 1964, starring Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil. This was their last cartoon together during the Golden Age of American Animation. It was directed by Robert McKimson. It was produced by David H. DePatie. The cartoon was animated by Ted Bonnicksen, Warren Batchelder, and George Grandpré. The cartoon was written by John Dunn, and is the only one where Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil both lose in the end. Plot The Tasmanian Devil approaches the Jungle. A woodpecker taps a warning on a tree, which we see as a subtitle on the bottom on the screen. "Warning! Tasmanian Devil approaching at 9 o'clock!" Two giraffes end up running. Some beavers use their tails to beat out the message "Take Cover! Devil is Coming! Take Cover! Repeat - Take Cover!". A bear and a moose fighting hear this and end up running. As a stampede of animals leave the jungle, Bugs is bathing in a nearby pond, unaware that Taz has spotted him. Disliking the taste of Bugs' soap, Taz washes the soap off with a bucket of water, and then adds some ketchup. Bugs thinks that the ketchup is blood and freaks out, telling Taz to find a doctor. Taz runs to a medical hut and yells the situation, only to find Bugs (dressed as a doctor) instead. "Right on time for your annual checkup, I see," Bugs says to Taz. Bugs paints Taz’s tongue green and puts spotted glasses on him. He asks Taz if he sees spots on his eyes. Taz says "Duh, yeah, little itty-bitty spots." Then Bugs gives him nitroglycerine and Bugs tells Taz that the medicine works best if you shake after you swallow. He puts an electric belly firmer vibrating belt on Taz and Taz explodes. Now Bugs is dressed as Sigmund Freud. He makes Taz lay on a couch and talk about his childhood. Taz talks about how he was a bad little boy. Bugs asks him to slow down because he has got to write down all the good stuff. He looks at his watch and says it's time to go, folds Taz and the couch into a suitcase, puts it in a mailbox, gets picked up by a mail truck. It comes back by a mail truck covered with stickers from all the countries he's been to. Taz runs after Bugs and then end up in a hospital zone. Bugs rolls himself by on a gurney. Inside the hospital Bugs is a nurse and he tells Taz "Congratulations, it’s a boy!" Bugs gives Taz something and calls it a bouncing baby boy, and he bounces it just to show him. Taz gives Bugs a cigar and unwraps the baby, which is actually a bomb. As Bugs walks away, the cigar that Taz gave him turns out to be an exploding cigar, leaving the poor bunny in blackface. ("I just wonder if he's as dumb as he looks?" Bugs wonders.) As the exploded Taz spins in, Bugs then dresses as a surgeon and calls Taz as his assistant. Bugs leaves the room and Taz looks at the patient. It ends up being the robotic Frankenstein's monster and he beats up Taz, then, in a backfiring moment, heads for Bugs as the monster goes out of control. It ends with Bugs being beaten up by the monster off stage and both the dazed Bugs and Taz staggering back onscreen, bruised and wrapped in bandages while Bugs groans, "Is there a doctor in the house? Huh, is there?" Censorship *ABC airings of this cartoon on "The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show" omits the scene when the cigar explodes on Bugs. *CBS airings of this cartoon on "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour" edits the scene when Bugs spoon-feeding to the Tasmanian Devil some nitroglycerin. Bugs refers to a wonder drug that will, "...make (Taz) as good as new," and the cartoon jumps to Bugs strapping around Taz an exercise belt, which causes the nitroglycerin in Taz's stomach to explode in this cartoon's uncut form. As a result of the edit, though, it seems that it was the belt that exploded! In addition, Bugs giving to Taz a round black bomb disguised as a baby and Taz providing Bugs with an exploding cigar that leaves the bunny in blackface, was spliced out of the CBS print of this cartoon short. Availability *VHS - Bugs Bunny: Truth or Hare *DVD - Looney Tunes Super Stars' Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire (cropped to widescreen) *Blu-Ray, DVD - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1, Disc 2 (rightfully restored) Gallery External Links Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare at SuperCartoons.net Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare at B99.TV Category:Merrie Melodies shorts Category:Looney Tunes Category:Looney Tunes shorts Category:Bugs Bunny shorts Category:Bugs Bunny Category:Taz Category:Bugs and Taz shorts Category:Taz shorts Category:Animated shorts Category:1964 films Category:1964 shorts Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons Category:Warner Bros. Animation Category:Chuck Jones Enterprises Category:Seven Arts Productions Category:DePatie-Freleng Enterprises Category:DePatie-Freleng shorts Category:Tasmanian Devil Category:Merrie Melodies Category:Directed by Robert McKimson